Dick Blume/The Syracuse Post-StandardMark Holick is the man who will coach the Syracuse Crunch into its new era of affiliation with Anaheim.

Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray walked to a podium in the War Memorial on Tuesday to introduce the Syracuse Crunch’s most important new prospects of the 2010-11 season.

They won’t score a goal, stop a puck or throw a check. But Mark Holick and Mike Stapleton will play greater roles in the team’s fortunes than the rest of its rookies combined.

Holick is Syracuse’s head coach and Stapleton is his assistant. Neither has coached a minute in pro hockey. Both made trips to Syracuse on Tuesday to get a feel for their new job, albeit only in terms of atmosphere.

“You look for prospects. Both these guys are prospects. They’ve worked their way up. That’s how our business works,” Murray said. “I think as an organization you have to have young people coming in to take the next step. I didn’t want somebody who wasn’t excited to be here.”

Holick, 41, and Stapleton, 44, at least look like complementary pieces of the puzzle as they link their futures by skating on to new ice together. Stapleton is the latest on board, named to his post on Monday.

He spent the last four years as either an assistant coach or associate coach in the Ontario Hockey League with Sault Ste. Marie (2008-10) and Erie (2006-08). He is also a veteran of 697 NHL games and the son of long-time NHLer Pat Stapleton.

“I’m sure there’s a little learning curve to the league,” Mike Stapleton said. “I think the learning curve will be a short curve. Bob and his group will give us as much support as we need.”

Stapleton had a long-time connection in the application process: Murray. The two roomed together as players on the Chicago Blackhawks in the mid-1980s. When Stapleton decided not to return to Sault Ste. Marie this season, he gave Murray a call about the Crunch assistant’s job.

“I looked after kids when they came up. He was another one. It’s a natural progression,” Murray said. “He’s like his father. A great thinker of the game.”

Holick spent the past three seasons coaching Kootenay of the Western Hockey League and caught Murray’s eye with his ability to get undermanned teams to play above their heads. Holick and Stapleton didn’t know each other until meeting at an Anaheim organizational gathering a few weeks ago in Michigan.

“Mark has a presence about him. The thing that I felt was the comfortability being around him,” Stapleton said.

“I don’t think he’s a guy who is going to be a yes man,” Holick said. “He’s going to have some ideas and challenge me at times. You have to have that balance.”

Both coaches see their mix blending well in Syracuse. Stapleton is a witty storyteller, has a pro player’s experience and street cred and, by Holick’s account, is the voice of reason and calmer of the two. Holick has the piercing glare, angled jaw and demeanor of an authority figure who doesn’t need to work hard to get his point across.

“I just go in and talk from the heart,” Holick said. “You just use common sense with the players. In this day and age, I don’t think you can degrade the players. You are coaching different personalities. It’s our job to find out (how to treat them).”

First, the pair started by checking out their new offices and rink at the War Memorial.

“It’s an interesting old building,” Stapleton said. “It can work to your benefit, for sure. From what I hear, it’s an exciting place.”

Later in the day, the coaches and their wives were scheduled to look for houses. Stapleton and his wife, Laura, have two sons, Luke, 12, and Nick, 10. Holick and his wife, Janet, have a son, Cooper, 14, and a daughter, Kennedy, 10.

Whatever residence Holick buys, it will afford him a much different view on life. From the windows of his current home in Cranbrook, British Columbia, the Rocky Mountains blaze a wondrous picture.

Now, when Holick looks to the horizon his new challenge blocks out everything else.

“I never thought it would happen as quick as it did,” he said of his new job. “There might be (mistakes). I hope not. But there might be. But we are all human. It’s a pro game. It will be a lot faster. It’s just like a player. You have to be ready to go to that level.”